TTFromSommersTown

I am not sure when you were appointed Moderator of this Forum but your last paragraph was unnecessary as you should have the decency not to be so rude.

I would suggest that you get the form signed by the parents for the simple reason that if your daughters friend needs medical treatment and is not able to give permission, you will need to be able to authorize on their behalf.

I have only sailed on the R Class Ships and have no interest in anything bigger. Over Christmas and New Year 2017/2018 I sailed on the Zaandam from Santiago to Buenos Aires via Cape Horn and the Antarctic Peninsula, this was an EXC InDepth Cruise.

The lectures were brilliant, but I only attended a few, those that really interested me most. They brought a group on board from one of the research stations and they described what living in Antarctica was like. They answered a lot of questions and every one there seemed to enjoy this talk immensely.

There were some people that went to most of the lectures others that did not go to any, this is YOUR CHOICE. None of us were forced to go to the theatre and there is still a lot to do on board.

I am telling you this as I will be going on the Maasdam over Christmas and New Year on a 34 Day EXC InDepth Cruise and I know that I will love it. I would take the Maasdam over the Noordam any day.
 

If the OP and their travelling companion both bought the same travel insurance at the same time for their cruise then this usually, but not always, covers the costs involved if one person has to cancel. This can include both parties cancelling the trip or just on person cancelling and the other going on the cruise. Any additional cost for single supplements are often covered.

If you purchased the insurance through the cruise line and it includes the cancel for any reason provision then this is where it seems that the cruise line is most lightly to want the single supplement as the actual true insurance does not kick in until 24 or 48 hrs before the cruise. Until then it is the cruise line itself that is refunding the money.

I would not tell HAL until after you have talked with the insurance company(ies).

Yesterday morning at about 3 am I had to use the bathroom. As I was going back to bed I heard my iPad beep with a new email. I checked and it was a notification for an "Important Notification for Booking XXXXX". As I only have one booking and that sails in 3 weeks I was suddenly wide awake. I checked the email and it was a change of departure port from Valparaiso to San Antonio. I had however received the same notification on the 12th September and this change was being discussed on the boards at that time.

I do wish that that when they send a second email that the title says something about that is a duplicate of a previous sent email to confirm that it is a duplicate. And because I was wide awake at that point I could not go back to sleep so I ended up checking Cruise Critic.

Thanks for the quick replies.

I am on the Zaandam over Christmas and New Year and we overnight in Buenos Aries before leaving on the 6th Jan. How do people print their Boarding Passes in a case like this as I assume that the ships internet will not be available and therefore nor their printers?

I will have a cell phone plan that will allow me to complete check-in but I will not be able to print. I know I can send it to my smart phone but I always worry that it will die on me just when I am in the middle of the security lines.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Tony.

On thing to remember is that if you are on the Port side on this itinerary you will have no views of any land when you are at sea especially going up the Pacific coast.

We are going on QE in a suite for the first time and was wondering even though the dress code states for informal nights a suit/jacket with open necked shirt is acceptable would it look out of place in the Queen's Grill or do men wear a tie every informal night and bow ties on formal nights.

Although I have not yet had the pleasure of a cruise on Cunard, it is on my bucket list.

I find it quite funny that on most cruise lines, when a question on dress code is asked, it always seems to be "The dress code says XXX but can I get away with XXX-" but on the Cunard board it is "The dress code says XXX but can I get away with XXX++++"

I am thinking about joining a cruise to Alaska in Vancouver . I am British . Do i need a US visa to get on the ship ?

Please also remember that you now need an ETA to enter Canada, this came into effect last fall and applies to most EU countries.

:D

 

And not to be testy, but "knots per hour" is repetitive, since a "knot" is a "nautical mile per hour", so that is a "nautical mile per hour per hour".

Just to add some humour into the mix for what is a very serious issue.

Knots per hour is a term of acceleration, the same as gravity has an acceleration of 32 feet per second per second. If the Grand had accelerated at 11 nautical miles per hour per hour when the incident first occured, they would now be travelling at over 250 knots and would be well on the way to Australia. ;););)

They need a good proofreader.

I think that that did have a proofreader, unfortunately it was a 100% Proof reader ;)

I suggest that you go to guest services and complain. If it is not fixed in a reasonable time esculate.

As of today all major United States airlines' frequent flyer programs are now revenue based. To maintain elite flyer status annual spending must be above a certain level. As you may know, Holland America awards additional Cruise Day credit based on onboard spending.

 

Do you think any cruise line would go to an entirely revenue based model to reward their frequent cruisers?

 

In the future, do you think you will have to meet certain spending levels every year to maintain high Mariner status?

I think that the difference between Airline loyalty programs and Cruise Line ones are that in the main, the Airlines are after the business traveler and therefore their loyalty is worth a lot of money to them in the short term. If the business traveler moves to a new job that no longer requires them travelling on the firms dime, then why would the Airlines wish to give them perks forever.

Cruise Lines are after keeping a cruiser happy over many years, they need them to keep coming back but at the same time to a lot of people a cruise is still a very special holliday and not something that they will do multiple times a year or even every other year.

You are fine as the entire trip is LA to Vancouver. The time that this becomes an issue is if you go from LA to another US port without going via a distant foreign port.

Fosters has often been described as Paint Stripper, but the manufacturers of Paint Stripper threatered to sue as it devalued their product.

I think that you will find that it is pronounced with more of a "W" sound after the Z as in ZWIDERDAM.

One suggestion that I can make is to login to your account and then logout. Next close the browser and then open browser and delete the cookies. Next close browser again and then re-boot PC. Make sure you completly close it down and power it off and not just do a simple re-boot. Open browser and login to your account.

I have found that doing the above works for a large number of login type issues on different web sites. Sometimes there are somethings in memory that do not get cleaned out properly.

If it doesn't work then I would contact HAL.

You are right and wrong. The ship upholds the USA drinking law (21) even in foreign ports and international waters.

I am not sure why you said this as I did not say anything about drinking age on the ship. I was making a point about US law and said that the age was 21 but that almost everywhere else in the world was less than that. In fact Cunard has a drinking age of 18 except when in US territorial waters.

The point that I was trying to make was that you should abide by the rules of the various tour operators/cruse lines or not go with them.

I agree that the Diving Company has every right to insist that participants abide by their rules, and I am sure that it is to comply with insurance requirements. From previous posts, the age requirements for the diving tours are spelled out in the brochures so why is this a surprise to the OP.

Every where you go there are various age requirements that a large number of people disagree with, the main one that seems to come up time and time again is the minimum age to drink alcohol in the US, which is 21, but it is 18 or 19 in almost any other country in the world.

If you are not willing to abide by the rules of the Country or Tour Provider, then do not go or if you do, do not complain.

I feel sorry for the poor person at the counter who believes all passengers need a passport

( as I did ) only to be confronted with the "Schengen treaty " .

If you can afford to cruise you can afford a passport . Why does everyone have to be "special".

So I am assuming by your previous statement that you do not agree that US citizens on round trip cruises from a US Port should be able to cruise with just a Birth Certificate and a Picture ID?

I have one suggestion that may help your friend at checkin.

Go onto the Government Website of each Country that you will be visiting and printout the regulations for admittance of an Italian National into the country, it usually includes details of Land, Sea or Air arrival.

If your friend has any problems at checkin, he will have proof that he has all of the required documentation.

When I was on a land holiday in Spain a few years ago, I came up against the same "One person near the front of the line gets joined by 10 or 12 others" attitude more than once.

The worst time it happened was when we were at a hotel that was up on a steep hill and a free shuttle was run between the town and the hotel. There was always one group or another that had someone near the frount of the queue and then after all the joiners were on the bus, there were no seats for anyone else and you were all jammed together.

One day I saw someone that I knew at the front of the line and went and spoke with them, as the bus came up I let them on and then blocked the entrance door and yelled "All English to the front" and then let them on first.

After that we did not get any more pushing in.

Does anyone know if any of the cruise lines will allow booking in the same room by girls 2 @ 21 and 2@ 19? I can't seem to find an answer on the web sites. :confused:

From "take us away"'s post it would seem that if you have all four of you in the same room then you will be fine. If you have two rooms then you will need to have one 21 year old and one 19 year old in each room.

Have a good cruise.